Brown Family

First Generation

A 1909 Genealogy of the Thomas Canon Brown Family states that Cannon Brown was the son of Thomas Canon Brown, a barrister from Edinburgh, Scotland, and his wife Betsy Buckner, and that Thomas and Betsy were early settlers of Rowan County NC. I have been unable to verify these statements so far. The first definite record of this family I have found is Cannon Brown's appearance in a 1793 petition for a separate election in Rowan County, and then in the 1800 Rowan County census. Cannon Brown does not appear as head of household in the 1790 Rowan census, and his first land purchase in this area appears to have been in 1798 (Rowan Co. deed book 16:609, Aug. 22, 1798; he purchased 112 acres on the east side of Bear Creek, in what is now Davie County, from Gasper Roland, who was his wife's grandfather.) Cannon's wife was Catherine Hendricks or Hendrix, daughter of Daniel Hendricks and Mary Roland. Cannon Brown died about 1831, leaving a will that names his children.

Children of Daniel Brown and Sarah/Elizabeth Dwiggins
Archie Brown died young
Laura Brown died young
Thomas Brown (ca. 1844-?), probably died young
Daniel Brown (ca. 1848-?), probably died young
James Hanson Brown (1850-1941) m. Emma Glasscock (1858-1951)

Sources

Mary Eliza Chinn Brown's family Bible

Obituaries and other newspaper clippings saved by Margaret Maud Brown Pollard and her daughters

North Carolina marriage bonds, Rowan and Davie Counties

Hinton Alexander Helper, The Genealogy of the Thomas Canon Brown Family in North Carolina - ms, 1909
This is traditionally the standard work on our Brown family. However, it contains inconsistencies and information that can't possibly be correct. I have posted an annotated transcript that gives my arguments against it.

Abstracts of Wills and Estates Records of Rowan County, North Carolina 1753-1805 and Tax Lists of 1759 and 1778, copyright Jo White Linn 1980

Wall, James W., History of Davie County in the Forks of the Yadkin, Davie County Historical Publishing Association, Mocksville NC

Other Resources

A descendant of Cannon Brown through the line of Richard Jesse Brown (see Third Generation, above) has been tested at Family Tree DNA. His results match "Group 26" on the Brown Society DNA project page. Several others in this group trace their ancestry back to Virginia or North Carolina, and one has an association with Pittsylvania Co. VA. Unfortunately none of the participants so far has a proven genealogy earlier than 1800, so we can't confirm a common ancestor.

I would also like to have DNA test results for the family of William C. Brown, born 1828 in Caswell Co. NC, and later lived in Davie Co. NC. If you are a direct male-line descendant of William C. Brown and his wife Ann Paine Carter, please contact me. These two families intermarry in a later generation, and there are some recurring given names in both that suggest a possible relationship. DNA analysis would allow us to determine quickly whether they are the same or different families.